Citizens of the small Palo Alto County community of Curlew celebrated the opening of a new Post Office in September 1971. The 640-square feet building provided nearly three times the space of the previous location, along with a new loading platform and dedicated parking spots. Curlew’s population was 125 at the time the post office was constructed, but has since declined to 62.
The current Post Office in the Muscatine County community of West Liberty opened its doors to much fanfare on March 1, 1977. The new location featured more post office boxes, a larger lobby area, and a dedicated parking lot for both employees and customers. The brick post office resembled thousands of post offices opened across the country in the previous two decades. Like the other offices, the facility was built by a private construction company to lease to the U.S. Postal Service.
The Muscatine Journal noted the opening marked the first time the West Liberty Post Office occupied a new building, though it had been housed in at least eight previous locations. Postal service to West Liberty had been in place since 1838, when the first office was opened within the local general store. Immediately prior to the opening of the new location, the office was located in a downtown storefront.
With a population of just 132, Oyens is the smallest community in Plymouth County in northwestern Iowa to have an active post office. The part-time office sits on the west side of Main Street, open mornings six days a week. Postal service was first established in Oyens in 1878, more than three decades before the town was officially incorporated in 1909.
The Zearing Post Office was one of several across the state of Iowa to be constructed in the 1960s. These cookie-cutter brick post offices, designed to official U.S. Postal Service specifications, provided more space for employees and more mailboxes for locals. The Zearing location was constructed in 1962, eighty years after postal service was first introduced to the community.
This modest metal sign hangs outside the post office in the unincorporated community of Cedar along State Highway 23 in Mahaska County, Iowa. Though its entrance and lobby are separate, the Cedar Post Office is one of a handful of locations across the state to share space with a private residence. Postal service was first established in Cedar on June 17, 1874.